Device for culling and grading seed cotton



c. A. BENNETT ET AL 5T1? DEVICE FOR GULLINCT AND GRADING SEED COTTON Filed June 12, 1953 //v VE/V TO/QS m A EVS Patented June 23, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR CULLING AND GRADING SEED COTTON Charles Abel Bennett and Francis Leo Gerdes,

Stoneville, Miss., assignors to The Government and The People of the United States of America Application June 12, 1933, Serial No. 675,444

2 Claims.

This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, chapter 143 (22 Stat. 625) as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described and claimed may be used by the Government of the. United States or any of its officers or employees in the prosecution of work for the Government, or any person in the United States without payment to us of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to improvements in a process and device for culling and grading seedcotton, in which inferior locks of seed-cotton may be removed from the principal body of the seedcotton at a speed commensurate with normal rates of handling customarily employed by systems of drying, cleaning, extracting, storing and ginning.

Prior to the invention of our process and device, no successful approach has been made to the problem of sorting, culling, grading and classifying seed-cotton except by the tedious and expensive method of hand labor. Although such laborious hand methods may be profitable in foreign countries where labor is plentiful and wages are abnormally low, they are not desirable in the United States of America. Our invention, therefore, introduces a new and worthwhile process and device which is applicable to existing conditions of labor and machinery in the United States, and which may be an important step toward bringing about beneficial centralization for handling seed-cotton for superior conditioning, sorting, grading and improvement in quality prior to ginning.

In our work as research engineers and cotton technologists for the cotton ginning investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture, we have recognized the necessity for a radical departure from all previously known methods of culling and grading seed-cotton prior to ginning, if the ginned cottons of the United States are to be improved in quality. Our studies and surveys of cotton ginneries across the entire country disclose no past or present known means for preventing inferior locks of cotton, such as immature locks, frost-bitten locks, insect-damaged locks, and the like, from entering into the regular ginning concurrently with higher quality locks. Obviously the results of such systems of handling seed-cotton lead to a contamination of good lint by deleterious, immature and worthless fibers, finally resulting in material penalties in marketability and spinnability of the ginned product.

Our invention should beparticularly attractive to the larger operators in the fields of growing and marketing seed-cotton, because it will enable them to accumulate and gin quantities of inferior seed-cotton from time to time without interference in the more desirable disposition of high quality bales at premium. Buyers and ginners of cotton in the seed may make use of our 5 invention with substantial profit to themselves, and our invention aifords means by which they may more profitably supply their clients with various grades of cotton from which many causes of dispute have been eliminated. 10

The objects of our invention, therefore, are:

First, to provide a worthwhile solution to the problems of culling and grading seed-cotton by introducing a new and expeditious mechanical process and method to substitute for slow, costly l5 and obsolete hand methods; second, to provide a process and device which may be used at plantations, central depots and custom ginneries for sorting and separating different grades of seedcotton; third, to provide a process and device 20 which may be adapted by manufacturers to their own trade makes or brands of cotton handling equipment in both old and new installations for culling out and accumulating inferior locks of seed-cotton from bodies of good seed-cotton; and 25 fourth, to provide a cheap process and method of culling, sorting, fractionating and. grading seedcotton adaptable to existing rates of handling said seed-cotton at plantations, central depots and commercial ginneries.

We attain these objects by the process and device for culling and grading seed-cotton illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a vertical elevation in diagram form of a typical seed-cotton handling apparatus, in 35 which certain portions are shown in cross-section in order to more clearly illustrate the salient features of our invention; and

Figure 2 is a partial delineation in diagram form showing the synchronous control employed by our 0 process and method.

"fan E, F and G are cleaning units having a plurality of cleaning cylinders, Fl and GI are the trash hoppers into which inferior locks of seedcotton and various forms of trash may be dis- 5 charged, H is the main discharge pipe for delivering the inferior seed-cotton and trash to places of storage or further handling, J is the distributor which conveys the good seed-cotton to the several ginning feeder hoppers K, L is one of several usual gin stand cleaning feeders, and M is one of several cotton gins usually employed in a cotton ginnery.

Into this more or less standardized form of cotton ginnery our invention introduces the suction control valve l into the suction pipe D, by means of which the pneumatic conveyance, of seedcotton may be interrupted. This control valve I is a standard product of ginning manufacturers and has heretofore been used only in socalled pneumatic systems. Its mechanical construction is quite varied, but the essential features of such a device on the markets today comprise a timed damper 2 pivoted upon an axis 2a and operated by suitable apparatus (not shown) so as to alternately open and close said damper 2 within the port of valve I provided for that purpose. Such operating mechanism is usually driven by chain, belt or other means (not shown) and is capable of being timed so as to permit the opening and closing of the valve a predetermined number of times per minute. We do not claim the invention of this control valve l as a part of our process and device, nor do we claim any of the many ways in which it may be operated and timed. We do, however, make a new and novel use of this valve for the purpose of controlling certain culling dampers which are essential to the operation of our process and method, as will be described hereinafter.

For purposes of illustration we have delineated a bell crank 3 attached to said damper 2 through which synchronous control may be imparted to culling dampers I and M. It should be understood that cables, electrical controls, fluid controls and other forms of synchronously operating the culling dampers 1 and M in unison with the control valve I may be employed without departing from the spirit of our invention. As delineated, we use a hinged joint or pivot 4 and a rigid link 5 to transmit movement to our culling damper I in synchronism with control damper 2. Culling damper I is hinged at axis la and has two bell cranks 8 and 9, which are provided with suitable hinged joints or pivots 6 and In, all of which said cranks and pivots are external to the cleaners F and G so as not to interfere with the flow of seed-cotton. From joint In on bell crank 9 we carry a second rigid link II to a hinged joint or pivot l2 attached to a rocker arm 13, which is attached to culling damper l4 and its axis Ma, by means of which we cause culling damper I4 to also operate in synchronism with dampers 2 and I.

It will be readily seen that we may eliminate or add culling dampers to our apparatus concurrently with the elimination or addition of cleaning units, and a greater plurality of cleaners than shown, in combination with culling dampers actuated from a master or control damper similar to damper 2, will not depart from the spirit or intent of our invention.

Within the cleaners F and G we incorporate a bar type of cleaning surface or culling bars 15 to replace the customary screens (not shown) which are used for cleaning purposes. Said culling bars I5 may be of either circular or rectangular cross-section and are positioned so as to be substantially parallel to the axis 16 of the cleaning cylinders H. In order that our process and method of culling may be effective without discharging good seed-cotton into the cull stream, we have discovered that the clear distances or spacings necessary between the culling bars l5 must fall within the limits of 1 g inch as a minimum and -}& inch as a maximum, depending upon the inherent characteristics and varieties of seedcotton to be culled and graded.

It should be understood that although we have here delineated two cleaners F and G, having the so-called spider-arm type of cleaning cylinders ll, which are often used in Texas ginneries, nevertheless any other kinds of cylinders, from four to forty in number, and from 10 to 24 inches in diameter, such as spiked-drum, paddle-wheel, fivewing-pentagonal cylinders and the like may be employed Without departing from the spirit of our invention. Likewise, said various kinds of cylinders may be brought closer to or positioned further away from the upper surfaces of the bars I5, and from one to several cleaners may be used, without departing from our invention.

We recognize that certain relatively coarse varieties of mesh cleaning screen may be substituted for the culling bars I5 shown, but we prefer to use said bars I5 as being more dependable and effective for the purposes of our process and method.

It should further be clearly understood that we do not employ said culling bars 15 to accomplish cleaning or extracting as such, but utilize them for removal of inferior locks of cotton.

It is customary for ginneries employing more than one battery or plurality of cleaning cylinders to provide by-pass apparatus whereby each battery may be cut out of service without interfering with the normal functioning of the remaining units. We have not delineated these by-passes, but it should be understood that they may be employed when and if necessary. It is also customary to combine the trash hoppers and ducts F! and G! into a common trunk or pipe H for disposal of inferior seed-cotton and all foreign matter which has been removed by the cleaners F and G above.

In Figure 1 we show the control damper 2 open and the culling dampers I and M closed, to which we hereinafter allude as the culling and grading set-up. In Figure 2 we show the control damper 2 closed and the culling dampers l and [4 open, to which we hereinafter allude as the charging and discharging set-up.

Referring now to the operation of our process and method, it will be seen that when we have the charging and discharging set-up, we fill our cleaners F and G with seed-cotton. The timed damper 2 then opens and we cut over automatically to our culling and grading set-up, in which seed-cotton is confined within the bodies of the cleaners F and G, whose cylinders continue to rotate and thereby produce a continuous stream of seed-cotton which flows repeatedly under the cylinders and over the culling bars I5, thence back over the tops of the cylinders to the first cylinder of the battery, and so on. Each passage of the seed-cotton causes the immature locks, frost-bitten locks and insect-damaged locks to be cast out of the good seed-cotton and to fall through the culling bars [5 into the hoppers FI and GI and subsequently to form a cull stream discharging through the pipe H to a place of collection.

Our experiences and research into this subject have definitely proved that several passages over the culling bars l5 are necessaryin order to permit 75 a good separating and breaking up of masses of seed-cotton, and in order to allow various parts'of the cotton stream to have access to the cullingbars l5. By accomplishing this repeated action of the cylinders upon the seed-cotton, we are enabled to cast out so-called bumble-bee locks as well as the hard compact locks resulting from immature fiber, frost and insect-damaged conditions. It is very desirable to remove these bumble-bee looks from the staple cottons, because they are comprised of such short and fuzzy fibers as to materially increase the percentage of waste and undesirable fibers in a staple sample. However, long staple cottons cannot be threshed or passed through the process as much as short staple cottons may, because long staple cottons are more susceptible to handling damage.

When the seed-cotton has been confined for a sufiicient period of time within the cleaners F and G, the timed damper 2 closes and the charging and discharging set-up is again in operation. During this set-up the good seed-cotton is delivered into the distributor J and thence to the hoppers K, whilst fresh or ungraded seed-cotton fills the cleaners F and G for culling and gradmg.

It should be understood that although the functioning of our process of culling and grading is intermittent, due to the necessary timed action of the damper 2 and its synchronously operated culling dampers l and I4, nevertheless the ginning operation is continuous because the hoppers K are adequate for containing a reserve supply needed during the functioning of the culling and grading set-up.

In adapting our process and device to plantation or central depot where no ginning stands may be present,it should be understood that the graded or good cotton may be directly discharged from the cleaner G into any desirable receiver. Under such circumstances, the distributor J, hoppers K, feeders L and gin stands M are eliminated from the machinery installation.

When suificient quantities of culls and trash have been accumulated from pipe H to warrant handling, the same may be cleaned, extracted and ginned by handling through ordinary cleaning, extracting and ginning apparatus.

Although our invention is not confined to any specified number of cleaning cylinders ll, nor to any particular form thereof, nevertheless we have discovered that at least five seconds confinement within the cleaners is a desirable minimum or culling period, and that up to one minute is the maximum culling period.

Our investigations indicate that tip speeds of 5 the cylinders may vary between one thousand and four thousand lineal feet per minute without departing from the spirit and intention of our process and method.

We are aware that prior to our invention timed air valves have been used in cotton ginning systems, in combination with cleaners and other ginning apparatus, and we do not claim such a use broadly, but we claim:

1. In a seed-cotton cleaning apparatus having a cleaning unit, a plurality of cleaning members and pneumatic conveyor means, a device for removing inferior locks of seed-cotton from the principal body of seed-cotton comprising a series of culling bars positioned within the cleaning 0 unit and below and parallel to the axles of said cleaning members,said culling bars being so spaced from each other as to permit the passing between them-of inferior locks of seed-cotton and foreign material only, and a plurality of synchronized valve means to interrupt the pneumatic conveyance of seed-cotton to said cleaning units, and to confine intermittently the principal body of the seed-cotton in said cleaning unit.

2. In a seed-cotton cleaning apparatus having a cleaning unit and pneumatic conveyor means,

a device for removing inferior locks of seedcotton from the principal body of seed-cotton comprising a series of culling bars forming a grid surface across the cleaning unit and positioned horizontally and parallel to each other within said cleaning unit, the culling bars being spaced apart from each other 1 of an inch to 1% of an inch, means for repeatedly passing seed-cotton over and in contact with the screening surface, a plurality of synchronized valve means to interrupt the pneumatic conveyance of seed-cotton to the cleaning unit and to confine intermittently the principal body of seed-cotton in the cleaning unit, means for delivering inferior locks of seed-cotton and foreign material located below said culling bars at one point of delivery and means for delivering refined seed-cotton located above said culling bars to another point of delivery.

CHARLES ABEL BENNETT. FRANCIS LEO GERDES. 

